(NEW YORK) — Condiment fans are clamoring on social media over the luxurious and spicy new collaboration from Hidden Valley Ranch and hot sauce company Truff, Spicy Truffle Ranch.
The two companies announced the ultra-limited release on Tuesday, encouraging interested tasters to join the online waitlist to get notified when the black truffle infused hot sauce and ranch dressing blend goes live later this month.
From pizza to chicken wings, ranch and hot sauce are a well-known go-to for all things dipping, dunking and drizzling, so it comes as no surprise that fans are hyped about the hybrid Spicy Truffle Ranch blend.
“TRUFF is all about flavor exploration and reimagination. While we’ve had the privilege of working with world-class chefs, sometimes the best suggestions come from our customers, who have been very vocal about requesting a truffle ranch,” Truff co-founder Nick Ajluni said. “Partnering with Hidden Valley Ranch was the obvious choice. Not only are they the original ranch, but they’re a truly iconic brand with a passionate community that’s helped make ranch a cultural phenomenon.”
This unique new spicy truffle ranch features “the spice of red chiles, umami depth of black truffles, and tangy, creaminess of ranch dressing, all of which morph into a truly gourmet condiment,” according to the press release.
Deb Crandall, marketing director at Hidden Valley Ranch, hailed Truff as “the perfect partner” to deliver ranch fans a “new and unexpected” flavor experience.
Truff Hot Sauce, an upscale version of the spicy pantry staple, first reached viral acclaim when it debuted in 2017 and quickly became the fastest-growing company in the hot sauce space with its distinctive flavors, sleek bottle and truffle-shaped cap. The company now offers a variety of products, including pasta sauce, mayonnaise and truffle oil.
Previous iterations of Truff Hot Sauce have been tried and beloved by celebrities like Oprah and Machine Gun Kelly to home cooks.
The limited-time Spicy Truffle Ranch sauce officially goes live Aug. 30 at 11 a.m. ET and will be available for $24.99 in TRUFF’s larger 18-ounce “magnum” bottles while supplies last.
(NEW YORK) — As alarms over inflation and a possible recession sounded in recent months, a stock market rally offered a source of optimism — until this week.
The S&P 500 fell 2.1% on Monday, its worst day in more than two months. As of trading on Wednesday afternoon, the index had recovered some of its losses but remained down for the week.
The recent drop marks the latest swing of this year’s market seesaw. Bouncing back from a historic plunge over the first half of 2022, the S&P 500 rose more than 15% during a two-month period beginning in mid-June. Over that same period, the tech-heavy Nasdaq spiked more than 17% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 14%.
In fact, that rally makes up a key reason for the downturn in recent days, as investors determined that stocks became overpriced, market analysts said. The plunge also stems from fear that the Federal Reserve will continue a series of aggressive rate hikes, which aim to slash inflation by slowing the economy but risk tipping the U.S. into a recession, they added.
But analysts differed over whether this week’s downturn marks a brief hiccup or a sign of more losses to come, suggesting that murky economic data supports varied interpretations about the outlook of the economy and in turn corporate profits, the key focus for stock forecasters.
“Markets don’t go up or down forever,” Ed Yardeni, the president of market advisory firm Yardeni Research and former chief investment strategist at Deutsche Bank’s U.S. equities division, told ABC News. “At some point, buyers get exhausted and new buyers think things have gotten expensive and are waiting for a pullback.”
“It’s a tug of war between the bulls and the bears,” he added. “For a while, the bears were gaining ground. Over the last couple months, the bulls gained ground and now we may be at a standoff for a while.”
The volatility in markets owes in large part to looming concern that sky-high inflation will require the Fed to pursue ongoing, sizable hikes to interest rates, which would slow the economy and risk a recession, the analysts said.
Typically, the market has climbed in response to news about slowing inflation and a potential softening of rate increases; inflation spikes and rate moves are a common cause of selloffs.
For instance, lower-than-expected inflation data released earlier this month sent the S&P 500 soaring to its highest level in three months, reflecting optimism that price increases have peaked.
At meetings in each of the past two months, the central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.
The rate increases may have contributed to a slowdown in price hikes. While still elevated, price increases last month waned from the near-historic pace reached in June, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The consumer price index, or CPI, rose 8.5% over the past year as of July, a marked slowdown from a 9.1% year-over-year rate measured in June, the bureau said.
Still, Fed officials have signaled in recent days that the central bank intends to continue a series of rate hikes, aiming to bring inflation back down to its target of 2%. Last Thursday, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly told CNN that a 50- or 75-point basis hike at the central bank’s meeting next month would be “reasonable” and that rate hikes would continue into at least 2023.
Such signals from the Fed have contributed to the market decline this week, Ivan Feinseth, a market analyst at Tigress Financial, told ABC News.
“There’s fear that the Fed will have to raise rates aggressively to fend off inflation, but also fear of overreaching and the Fed in and of itself decimating the economy,” he said.
Market forecasters also face the challenge of murky economic data, Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci told ABC News.
Inflation remains near a 40-year high and GDP has slowed, raising the specter of stagflation, a damaging combination of high prices and anemic growth. But observers can take solace in employment data, which persists at robust levels, as the economy added a blockbuster 528,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate stands at 3.5%.
“Things look pretty strong in certain indicators of the macro economy, whereas things look pretty weak in other indicators,” he said. “That’s the schizophrenic behavior of the market.”
Analysts offered conflicting assessments of the market outlook, in part because the murky market data sets an uncertain future for the economy.
The Fed may ease off of its aggressive rate hikes if inflation continues to fall, which could send stocks higher toward the end of the year, said Feinseth of Tigress Financial.
“We could see a new all-time high in the stock market by the end of year,” he said.
A potential recession, however, would hammer corporate profits, causing a prolonged downturn in the market, said DiFucci of Guggenheim.
“If we’re going to go through a longer period of weakness, stocks that typically trade at higher multiples are likely to moderate or come down,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Yardeni, who identifies as “right in the middle” on the spectrum between market bears and bulls, predicted that stocks would move “sideways.”
“Everyone is asking these days if the market will be up or down,” he said. “The third option is nowhere fast.”
Onur Dogman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Former Twitter head of security, Peiter Zatko, alleged in a whistleblower federal complaint last month that the social media giant had numerous wide-ranging information security system lapses, according to a copy of the complaint made public on Tuesday.
According to the complaint, the company prioritized growth over policing spam and bots on the platform, as some employees stood to receive $10 million bonuses based on increasing daily users.
In response, Twitter blasted Zatko, who worked at the company from November 2020 to January 2022, saying he was spreading a “false narrative about Twitter” and was fired for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.” The company also said Zatko’s public remarks are “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”
In a statement, attorneys representing Katko rebuked the characterization from Twitter.
“Mr. Zatko repeatedly raised concerns about Twitter’s grossly inadequate information security systems to the Company’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors throughout his tenure,” they said.
They also said, “On January 19, 2022, a mere two weeks after Mr. Zatko clashed with Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Kordestani about these issues, Twitter abruptly terminated his employment.”
The complaint, first reported by The Washington Post, becomes public as Tesla CEO Elon Musk — the richest person in the world, according to the Forbes Billionaires list — has sought to terminate his $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter over concerns about spam accounts on the platform.
Twitter sued Musk last month in an attempt to force him to complete his purchase of the company after he declared in early July he was walking away from the deal.
Alex Spiro, an attorney at law firm Quinn Emanuel who represents Musk in that suit, said the firm has subpoenaed Zatko, who goes by the nickname “Mudge.”
“We found his exit and that of other key employees curious in light of what we have been finding,” Spiro said in a statement.
Whistleblower Aid, the lawyers that are representing Zatko, told ABC News in a statement “the disclosure speaks for itself and Mudge stands by everything in it.”
Whistleblower Aid confirmed Zatko’s complaint and the authenticity of the document published by The Washington Post. Zatko sent his complaint in July to the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.
The complaint makes a host of allegations about Twitter’s failure to secure its platform.
The complaint alleges that Twitter made false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about the company’s efforts to protect the privacy and integrity of the platform for more than a decade.
In turn, Twitter violated a settlement that the company reached with the FTC in 2011 in which the company agreed to create a “comprehensive information security program,” the complaint says.
According to the complaint, the misleading remarks made by Twitter include a tweet from CEO Parag Agrawal in May, in which he said that the company is “strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can.”
A Twitter spokesperson told ABC News: “Mr. Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter in January 2022 for ineffective leadership and poor performance. What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”
“Mr. Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter and will continue to be,” the spokesperson added.
The whistleblower complaint is the latest in a series of major developments for Twitter and Musk as they remain locked in a legal dispute over his decision to terminate his acquisition of the company.
Previously, Musk has claimed that Twitter has not provided him with an accurate estimate of the number of bots on the platform. Twitter has rebuked that claim, saying it has provided Musk with information in accordance with conditions set out in the acquisition deal.
Last month, a Delaware court determined that the trial in a lawsuit brought by Twitter against Musk should take place in October, granting an expedited timeline for the case.
Onur Dogman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Former Twitter head of security, Peiter Zatko, alleged in a whistleblower federal complaint last month that the social media giant had numerous wide-ranging information security system lapses, according to a copy of the complaint made public on Tuesday.
According to the complaint, the company prioritized growth over policing spam and bots on the platform, as some employees stood to receive $10 million bonuses based on increasing daily users.
In response, Twitter blasted Zatko, who worked at the company from November 2020 to January 2022, saying he was spreading a “false narrative about Twitter” and was fired for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.” The company also said Zatko’s public remarks are “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”
In a statement, attorneys representing Katko rebuked the characterization from Twitter.
“Mr. Zatko repeatedly raised concerns about Twitter’s grossly inadequate information security systems to the Company’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors throughout his tenure,” they said.
They also said, “On January 19, 2022, a mere two weeks after Mr. Zatko clashed with Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Kordestani about these issues, Twitter abruptly terminated his employment.”
The complaint, first reported by The Washington Post, becomes public as Tesla CEO Elon Musk — the richest person in the world, according to the Forbes Billionaires list — has sought to terminate his $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter over concerns about spam accounts on the platform.
Twitter sued Musk last month in an attempt to force him to complete his purchase of the company after he declared in early July he was walking away from the deal.
Alex Spiro, an attorney at law firm Quinn Emanuel who represents Musk in that suit, said the firm has subpoenaed Zatko, who goes by the nickname “Mudge.”
“We found his exit and that of other key employees curious in light of what we have been finding,” Spiro said in a statement.
Whistleblower Aid, the lawyers that are representing Zatko, told ABC News in a statement “the disclosure speaks for itself and Mudge stands by everything in it.”
Whistleblower Aid confirmed Zatko’s complaint and the authenticity of the document published by The Washington Post. Zatko sent his complaint in July to the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.
The complaint makes a host of allegations about Twitter’s failure to secure its platform.
The complaint alleges that Twitter made false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about the company’s efforts to protect the privacy and integrity of the platform for more than a decade.
In turn, Twitter violated a settlement that the company reached with the FTC in 2011 in which the company agreed to create a “comprehensive information security program,” the complaint says.
According to the complaint, the misleading remarks made by Twitter include a tweet from CEO Parag Agrawal in May, in which he said that the company is “strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can.”
A Twitter spokesperson told ABC News: “Mr. Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter in January 2022 for ineffective leadership and poor performance. What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”
“Mr. Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter and will continue to be,” the spokesperson added.
The whistleblower complaint is the latest in a series of major developments for Twitter and Musk as they remain locked in a legal dispute over his decision to terminate his acquisition of the company.
Previously, Musk has claimed that Twitter has not provided him with an accurate estimate of the number of bots on the platform. Twitter has rebuked that claim, saying it has provided Musk with information in accordance with conditions set out in the acquisition deal.
Last month, a Delaware court determined that the trial in a lawsuit brought by Twitter against Musk should take place in October, granting an expedited timeline for the case.
(NEW YORK) — As airlines announce cutting hundreds of flights a day in the fall, industry experts warn ABC News that this situation will become the new normal as air travel demand recovers from the pandemic and deals with a piloting shortage.
But they also cautioned that the airlines may not leave people stranded as they quickly adapt their operations to accommodate for these conditions.
The major airlines have scheduled 574,489 departures in October and 555,515 in November, according to recent data from Airline Data Inc. This is a far cry from the 677,882 departures in October 2019 and 639,248 in November 2019, according to the data.
“These large volume cuts are new. They haven’t occurred in the previous several years,” Jeff Pelletier, the managing director for Airline Data Inc., told ABC News Monday.
Despite the cuts, which Pelletier said haven’t been seen since after Sept. 11, he and other industry watchers say the airlines will be working nonstop to ensure that passengers aren’t stranded.
“These cuts are, right now, placeholders,” Brett Snyder, the president of Cranky Concierge travel assistance, told ABC News. “Typically, airlines plan out their flights about 100 days out, but those can change based on demand and other factors.”
Still, he said the situation should push the industry to rethink the way it plans out its future flights.
The cuts to flights for both October and November vary from airline to airline, according to data.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines saw the biggest decreases in planned departing flights from October 2019 to October 2022, according to Airline Data Inc. The three airlines combined have roughly 95,000 fewer flights in October compared to the same period in 2019 the data showed.
American, Delta and United plan to fly, combined, 79,000 fewer flights in November compared to November 2019, the data showed.
American Airlines said in a statement Monday that its planned October and November departure cuts are in line with its operating procedures prior to the pandemic. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told investors in July that the airline expects its full-year capacity to be down approximately 7.5% to 9.5% versus 2019.
“We’re sizing the airline for the resources we’ve available and the operating conditions we face, and we’ll make other changes as needed. Even with these adjustments, American still offers customers the largest network of any U.S. airline with an average of more than 5,400 daily departures,” Isom told investors in July.
Pelletier said it will be several years before new pilots can be hired and brought online so, in the meantime, the airlines are adapting in the most efficient way possible. The carriers are using “up to date booking curves” to allocate their aircraft to destinations with more bookings while also lowering the number of flights to destinations that haven’t been popular around this time of the year.
“They’re using that time, that opportunity to say, ‘You know what? Let’s remove an aircraft where there’s lower bookings. Let’s put it where the passengers really want to go that way,'” he said.
“This is going to be the new norm, I believe, for at least the next couple of years,” he added.
Snyder also noted that the fall typically sees a decrease in planned flights in October and November, even before the pandemic, and these new numbers reflect the fact that the industry is still recovering.
He added that passengers looking to book a flight during those two months shouldn’t worry because airlines have, in the past, added extra flights closer to departure based on demand and timing.
“I would bet we would see more flights added around Thanksgiving,” he said.
On Thursday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote a letter to carriers, calling on them to improve their customer service. He warned airlines that new rules may be coming to better empower travelers who face flight disruptions within the airlines’ control.
Roughly 24% of domestic flights of U.S. airlines have been delayed and 3.2% have been canceled during the first six months of this year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“Americans expect when they purchase an airline ticket they will arrive at their destination safely, reliably and affordably,” Buttigieg wrote.
Airlines for America, or A4A, the group that lobbies on behalf of all major U.S. airlines, responded to the letter and said its members are “committed” to working with stakeholders to overcome these challenges.
Carriers noted that increased demand and staffing issues were factors behind the disruptions. A4A also cited data that indicated 63% of the cancellations for the first five months of 2022 were caused by weather and the National Airspace System (NAS) collectively.
Pelletier said anyone who purchased a ticket for a flight in October or November should check with their airline to make sure there weren’t any last second scheduling changes. For passengers who haven’t booked their flight, he warned that they should be prepared for timing issues but reiterated that they would be able to make their destination.
“Maybe you need to travel a day before, [or] a day after,” he said. “At this point, everybody needs to be flexible, both the airlines and as they try to accommodate as many passengers as they can and the traveling public in order to get from point A to point B. They’ll get there.”
Snyder agreed that the airlines do not want to lose the revenue or their customers’ trust as they continue to rebound from the pandemic and will do everything they can to accommodate their request. He added that the situation should prompt the carriers to come up with a new system where they schedule their flights more accurately in advance to avoid any more problems that can occur from outside factors.
“They need to create a better placeholder, but that’s been hard because demand has been so variable since the pandemic,” he said.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney and Barbara Friedman contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Tesla will split its stock on Wednesday, joining giant firms like Amazon and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which have chopped up shares this year as a means of reducing their price and making them more accessible to investors.
The stock split has largely fallen out of fashion in corporate America. Shares, however, usually rise over the year following a split, according to a study conducted by Nasdaq.
Here’s what a stock split means and why it matters:
What does the stock split entail?
Tesla is set to split its shares 3 to 1, meaning the current holder of a single share will receive two additional shares for a total of three. Each of the three shares will be valued at a third of the price of an investor’s original share, leaving the total value of a shareholder’s stock unchanged.
Investors who held Tesla stock on Aug. 17 will be eligible to receive the additional shares.
As of Tuesday morning, the stock price stood at about $875, so if that price holds, a 3 to 1 split would leave shares at about $291.
What does the stock split mean for Tesla?
Typically a stock split signals optimism in a company. It also indicates confidence that the share price will eventually rise to a level near or surpassing where it stood before the split.
Recent performance of Tesla shares support such an interpretation. Over the past month, Tesla stock has surged, rising more than 6% as of early trading on Tuesday. Prior to a drop over the past week, the stock had risen more than 13% since a month ago.
The company last month reported mixed second quarter earnings, which showed a decline in profit of nearly one-third from the previous three-month period in part due to production slowdowns at a factory in Shanghai amid COVID lockdowns.
When compared with the same quarter a year ago, Tesla profit had doubled and revenue had grown 42%, signaling strong growth over the long term.
Still, on the whole, the company’s shares have suffered a difficult 2022, falling more than 18% since the outset of the year. That drop is in line with each of the three major stock indexes, which have plummeted this year.
What usually happens to a stock after a split?
Stock splits usually trigger a rise in the price of shares, according toa Nasdaq study that examined stock splits at large companies between 2012 and 2018. Even the mere announcement of a stock split yielded an average 2.5% price increase for a stock, the Nasdaq found; and a year after a stock split, shares saw an average price hike of nearly 5%.
(NEW YORK) — On a given morning, a conservative might grab an espresso from Black Rifle Coffee, which describes itself as “anti-hipster”; open up the soon-to-launch dating app, “Right Stuff,” founded by former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s sister; and buy a cryptocurrency called “Let’s Go Brandon,” a slogan critical of President Joe Biden.
A liberal, meanwhile, could snag a pick-me-up at Blue State Coffee; look for romance on OKCupid, which appeals to “every single tree hugger,” according to one ad; and shop for apparel at Patagonia, which in Fall 2020 sold shorts with tags that said, “Vote the a**holes out, an apparent reference to then-president Donald Trump.
These products exemplify a growing trend among some businesses that take public stances on political issues not only through formal statements and social media posts but in overt marketing, experts told ABC News.
As partisan polarization deepens, companies see an opportunity to draw in consumers on the basis of strongly held political identities, the experts said. While such messaging cultivates loyalty among a devoted set of customers with matching beliefs, businesses risk damaging their bottom lines and further exacerbating polarization, since such ads alienate consumers with opposing views and freight everyday purchases with political overtones, they added.
“The idea in the mind of managers — especially investors and their boards — had always been to stay away from politics because it’s going to be a mess,” Nooshin Warren, a marketing professor at the University of Arizona Eller College of Management, who specializes in the use of political messaging, told ABC News.
“As consumers moved to the side of pushing for one political ideology, naturally firms had to respond to the market,” she added.
Seventy percent of consumers believe it’s important for brands to take a public stand on social and political issues, according to a survey of 1,500 people released by data firm Sprout Social in 2019. That figure jumped 4 percentage points higher than a survey two years earlier.
Along those lines, a survey from public relations firm Edelman, in 2018, found that nearly two thirds of consumers around the world will buy or boycott a brand solely because of its position on a social or political issue. The result marked a jump of seven percentage points from the same survey question one year prior.
Political appeals for consumers trace back in part to the gay rights movement in the 1980s and later the fight for marriage equality in the 2010s — moments when sexual orientation became a prominent political issue, Warren, of the University of Arizona, said.
The phenomenon of politics in advertising reached an inflection point in 2012 when shares in J.C. Penney plummeted more than 25% amid backlash to an ad featuring a lesbian couple and their daughter as well as the hiring of gay comedian Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson. Ultimately, the company fired then-CEO Ron Johnson, who defended the moves.
Six years later, Nike launched an ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who knelt during the national anthem in a protest for racial justice. In response, some angry customers posted videos on social media of them burning their Nike shoes. “This started more polarization between consumers,” Warren said.
In recent years, brands became associated with conservative or liberal views as companies or their CEOs increasingly took stands on prominent political issues, Vikas Mittal, a professor of marketing at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, who has studied the issue, told ABC News. The chief executives at companies like MyPillow and Goya, for instance, drew applause from some and scrutiny from others after comments in support of Trump.
More recently, Disney sparked ire earlier this year from prominent national voices and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when the company publicly opposed the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which is now law, prohibiting public school teachers from providing instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for some of the youngest students and what opponents say is age-inappropriate material.
In April, the state moved to dissolve a special tax district enjoyed by Disney. The special district is a private government run by Disney World that allows it to offer services such as zoning and fire protection. Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
Perry Lowder, a brand manager with consultancy firm Joe Smith, which works with a range of clients that includes Fortune 100 companies and startups, said businesses have felt heightened expectations from customers that they take public positions on political topics.
“Brands and leaders of brands are feeling pressure to take a stand on social issues,” he told ABC News. “We’re seeing that in conversations every single day.”
“We have seen, culturally, just an increased desire from the average consumer to know more about the brands that they are choosing to support — not only how they’re making their products but how they are donating their money and profits,” he added. “So the C-suite has to keep that in mind.”
For the most part, such public stances from clients have not taken the form of overt political messages in advertising, Lowder said. “I haven’t seen as much a deliberate attempt to go after consumers based on how liberal or conservative they are,” he added. “It’s far more subtle.”
Large companies understand that direct political messages risk driving away half of their customers, many of whom are otherwise “politically inert,” said Mittal, of Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business. He added: “If a brand takes a specific position, it ends up creating a lot of acrimony.”
However, Katharine Howie, a professor of marketing at The University of Southern Mississippi, said she has noticed a rise in marketing that invokes explicit political appeals, in part because such advertisements draw eyeballs, a key goal of any marketing campaign.
“It can be a way to get customers’ attention and break through the clutter,” Howie said. “That’s the first step in advertising: Getting people to put their phones down and pay freaking attention.”
On the whole, political messaging in social media posts negatively affects the reach of companies, according to a study released in May by researchers at Temple University. After examining 435 major brands and 396,988 social media posts, the study found a negative impact of expressions of Black Lives Matter support on consumer responses such as followers and likes.
Lately, chief executives have become less willing to speak out on political topics, as they’ve seen the negative effects of alienating some customers, Mittal said. “We’re seeing the backlash,” he said. “I think a lot of CEOs are dialing back that whole idea.”
But other experts said they expect a continued rise of political messaging from companies. Howie, of the University of Southern Mississippi, said such communication on the part of companies exacerbates polarization, which in turn incentivizes companies to make further political appeals.
“It’s a feedback loop,” she said. “We live in our little silos and echo chambers, where we’re all getting pulled further and further to the ends of the political spectrum, and companies are now engaging in more political conversation and political action, and that’s pushing us even further apart.”
Warren, of University of Arizona Eller College of Management, agreed.
“These days, I haven’t seen any topic that is not politicized,” she said. “That’s the nature of what our country is becoming.”
(DETROIT) — Ford plans to cut 3,000 jobs across the U.S., Canada and India, the automaker said in a letter to employees on Monday, describing the reductions as part of a “reshaping” to get more competitive in the electric vehicle (EV) market.
Those affected include 2,000 salaried and 1,000 agency positions, Ford said in a statement. A spokesperson told ABC News the cuts affect about 6% of salaried workers in the U.S. and Canada.
Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, delivered news of the layoffs in a letter to employees, which was first reported by Auto News on Monday.
Affected employees will be notified later this week, according to Auto News.
The workforce reduction comes as the company is trying “to address all aspects of costs to improve our competitiveness and ensure we can fully invest in growth,” according to the statement.
Ford sales have recently, generally outpaced overall auto industry sales. In July, the company saw a 36.6% increase in vehicle sales compared to the previous year, which Ford attributed to “improved inventory flow.”
Farley and Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in the letter that staying competitive and adapting for the future means “redeploying resources and addressing our cost structure, which is uncompetitive versus traditional and new competitors.”
The executives specifically pointed to connected vehicles and EVs as business areas where the company has “an opportunity to lead.”
During a quarterly earnings call in July, Farley said that Ford “absolutely [has] too many people in certain places, no doubt about it.”
“Traditionally, the auto industry has cut costs often indiscriminately as an effect, of course, from lower auto demands through economic softness and shifts for customer preferences,” he said then. “What we’re undertaking forward is totally different than that. We’re reshaping virtually every aspect of the way we’ve done business for a century. And we’re doing that for a new industry based on new technology, new skills and a new promise for customer value.”
Ford has separately expanded hiring — especially in EV manufacturing. In early June, the company announced a $3.7 billion investment into factories across the Midwest, including in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri.
That spending will create 6,200 union manufacturing jobs and 74,000 indirect jobs by the end of 2026, the company said in a news release at the time.
Those positions are all geared toward the EV market. Ford plans to release an electric Mustang, Ranger pickup truck and professional commercial vehicle.
(NEW YORK) — Tesla is raising the price of its “Full Self Driving” software to $15,000, Elon Musk said in a tweet on Sunday.
Tesla is facing scrutiny from federal and state officials over how it has advertised its self-driving technology, as well as concern over safety risks involved with the self-driving capability.
Customers who order the Full Self Driving, or FSD, software before Sept. 5 will receive the product under the current price, Musk, Tesla’s CEO, said in the tweet. The $3K price bump arrives as Tesla introduces FSD beta 10.69, a new iteration that boasts “improved overall driving smoothness” and “reduced false slowdowns near crosswalks,” according to the company.
The FSD software doesn’t make a car fully self-driving. Rather, users must remain focused on the road and keep their hands on the driving wheel. The Autopilot system, meanwhile, offers navigation to and from user-provided destinations, as well as suggestions for lane changes and other maneuvers to optimize a trip.
Tesla has come under sharp criticism over its marketing of the FSD software and Autopilot.
Earlier this month, the California Department of Motor Vehicles alleged that the company deceptively advertises the products as fully autonomous, according to two filings with California’s Office of Administrative Hearings. The filings were first reported by The Los Angeles Times.
Similarly, Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) last year called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Tesla’s advertising of the FSD software and Autopilot.
“Tesla’s marketing has repeatedly overstated the capabilities of its vehicles, and these statements increasingly pose a threat to motorists and other users of the road,” Markey and Blumenthal said in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan.
In response to the letter, Tesla Senior Director of Public Policy Rohan Patel said in March: “Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD Capability features enhance the ability of our cusotmes [sic] to drive safer than the average driver in the U.S.” The response was first reported by Reuters.
Tesla vehicles operating under the Autopilot system were involved in 273 reported crashes over roughly a yearlong period ending in June, according to data released that month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Tesla vehicles comprised almost 70% of the crashes involving advanced driver-assisted systems over that period, the data showed.
(NEW YORK) — Buying an electric vehicle for the first time may be harder than ever these days.
The choices are no longer Tesla, Tesla, Tesla. There are pickup trucks, SUVs, crossovers, sedans, sports cars and hatches available from nearly every automaker. Seventy-two models (battery, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell) are currently on the market with more launching later this year and next.
Washington lawmakers threw another wrench into the EV equation with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Consumers are now wondering if that EV they’ve been eyeing still qualifies for the $7,500 federal tax credit. The Department of Transportation on Tuesday launched a site to help confused consumers navigate the new restrictions on EV tax credits.
Plus, with national fuel prices below $4 a gallon, limited inventory at dealerships and a public charging network that has been derided, what will drivers decide?
“There is a growing interest and awareness of EVs,” Ed Kim, president of consulting firm AutoPacific, told ABC News. “The biggest reason people buy an EV is because they want the coolest new tech. Tesla still has a stronghold on the market — 80% of EV sales last year were Teslas — but that will be changing in the coming years.”
According to a recent survey commissioned by Polestar, the Swedish electric performance brand, 55% of U.S. drivers purchase electric vehicles for reasons other than environmental benefits.
“In-vehicle technology, seamless connectivity and infotainment system offerings have been named as the most important decisions for consumers switching to an electric car from an internal-combustion vehicle,” the company said.
Industry watchers agree that affordable, mass-market EVs will accelerate sales and help meet President Joe Biden’s electrification goals. How has the EV game changed and which models are quickly becoming popular with drivers?
Inflation Reduction Act
The act, which is now law, changes the categories and requirements for EV tax credits. The longtime automaker sales cap of 200,000 units has been lifted; that means Tesla, General Motors and Toyota can again offer the $7,500 federal credit to motorists (the credit ends by December 2032). Used EVs are now eligible for up to a $4,000 tax credit — a first. EVs that exceed $55,000 in MSRP for sedans and $80,000 for trucks, vans and SUVs are excluded from the credit; the government also added credit caps on a buyer’s income.
The law also puts strict preconditions on where an EV is assembled and the sourcing of cobalt, nickel and lithium ion — key components of an EV’s battery that are mined in various parts of the world. Few automakers, if any, can meet these demands, according to industry watchers.
“The industry is trying to figure this all out,” John Loehr, a managing director in the automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners, told ABC News. “The requirements on extraction in minerals will be most challenging part for automakers to accommodate.”
The law states that the mining of minerals has to take place domestically or in a country where the U.S. has a free trade agreement. Right now these minerals are largely extracted outside North America, Loehr said. There are multiple lithium deposits in California and a nickel reserve in Minnesota but “it takes time to develop mines,” he said. “There are lots of local and environmental regulations.”
Before the bill was signed by Biden, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry trade group, said the bill would “immediately reduce (by a lot) the number of qualifying electric vehicles available to consumers for purchase with the tax credit.”
“Seventy percent of those EVs would immediately become ineligible when the bill passes and none would qualify for the full credit when additional sourcing requirements go into effect. Zero,” according to John Bozzella, the alliance’s president and CEO.
Kim agreed that “virtually none” of the EVs sold now will qualify for the full tax credit and he expects rapid growth of battery pack manufacturing in the U.S.
John Voelcker, contributing editor at Car and Driver, sees the upside to sourcing critical minerals and components here in the U.S. though he acknowledged that mining “is not consequence free.”
“China has every intent to dominate that supply chain,” he told ABC News. “If you’re an automaker, do you want to rely on China for 30%-40% of your new vehicle’s value?”
As for the tax credit, it only matters to a very small percentage of EV owners, Voelcker argued. Teslas continue to be in high demand even though the automaker reached the 200,000 sales cap in July of 2018.
“Tesla still sells the bulk of EVs because it has a rock solid, very reliable, nationwide DC Fast charging network that always works. No one else has that,” he said, adding, “The credit is not a deciding factor — especially for people who can buy a [Porsche] Taycan.”
Added Loehr: “Automakers will invest over half a trillion dollars over the next five years on vehicle electrification. There is lots of excitement around these high-end EVs. The question is: Can they take off in the mass market?”
The EVs making waves with consumers:
Ford F-150 Lightning
Ford Motor’s F-150 Lightning pickup truck will likely be a blockbuster for the Dearborn automaker. One of the first EV trucks to hit the market, Ford has sold more than 4,400 Lightnings in the first six months of 2022 and has 200,000 reservations from interested buyers. Ford said its share of the U.S. EV market hit a record 10.9% in July (Ford also sells the Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit van).
“The Lightning rides and handles so much better than the regular F-150,” said Kim. “The power and torque are stupendous … it has a low center of gravity and feels more planted to the ground and stable when driving it.”
He went on, “This a well thought-out product and a reflection of the fact that Ford understands the truck customer better than anyone else.”
The EV truck market has only begun to heat up; General Motors has shown a prototype of its all-electric Silverado truck and GM’s Hummer EV has been a sales success, with reservations sold out until 2024. There is also the Rivian R1T and Ram 1500 EV that’s supposedly coming in 2024.
Kim said pickup owners tend to be affluent and are not price sensitive, which is good news for Ford. The Lightning will now cost between $6,000 to $8,500 more depending on battery size and trim, bringing the MSRP to $96,874 for a Platinum version with an extended-range battery pack. Ford blamed rising materials costs for the price hike, effective on 2023 orders.
Base price: $39,947, 230 miles of range.
Kia EV6
It’s very likely you’ve seen a Kia EV6 or two or three on your local streets this summer. The new electric car has been an instant hit with drivers since its launch this spring.
“We have a group of buyers who love the design, the tech, the way it charges and all the cool features,” Steve Kosowski, manager of long range planning at Kia, told ABC News.
“And it’s not a Tesla,” he added.
Kia has sold EVs before (the Soul, Nero) but the seductive EV6 was engineered to be solely an EV, meaning the hatchback will not be available with an internal combustion engine.
“The EV6 marks a pivotal moment for Kia from an engineering and an aesthetics standpoint,” said Kosowski. “This car makes a statement for the brand.”
More than 10,000 EV6s have been sold this year in the U.S., with California topping the list. Kosowski, however, said there has been interest from all pockets of the country. The car’s 800-volt architecture also makes it easy to charge; the battery goes from 10%-80% (up to 217 miles range) in under 18 minutes when hooked to a DC Fast charger.
The EV6, along with its automotive cousin, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, could be the EVs that get more mainstream consumers behind electrification.
“They’re great vehicles and the praise is well deserved,” said Kim. “They get good range, good performance and have an eye-catching styling … and no one at their price point offers that ultra fast charging capability.”
Base price: $41,400, 310 miles of range.
Volvo C40 and XC40 Recharge
Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo is one of a handful of automakers transitioning to an all-electric model lineup. By 2030, all Volvos will come sans engine. For now, U.S. consumers have two EV choices: the C40 Recharge and XC40 Recharge, both of which have received top marks for their driving capabilities.
“The regenerative braking system is very advanced … the vehicles have a very refined drivetrain,” Jim Nichols, head of product and technology at Volvo USA, told ABC News. “We’ve been [offering] plug-in hybrids for several years now and have been able to smooth out the braking and the packaging of the batteries.”
He added, “There are no deviations in the C40 or XC40 from our standard vehicles. There are no compromises with interior or exterior styling.”
The two crossovers are built in Belgium. Volvo’s upcoming all-electric SUV that can seat seven will be manufactured at the company’s plant in Charlestown, South Carolina.
“We’re looking at the [IRA] legislation very closely … it remains to be seen what impact a credit is going to have on EV adoption for Volvo,” Nichols said.
Volvo also announced a pilot program with Starbucks and ChargePoint to add DC Fast chargers at various Starbucks locations. The 1,350-mile route spans from Denver, Colorado, to Seattle, Washington, and charging will be free for Volvo owners.
“That route is underserved at that moment [for EV owners],” Alex Trippi, head of electrification for Volvo USA, told ABC News. “We want charging your car to be as easy as getting a cup of coffee.”
The first charging station will be “powered up soon,” he added, noting that the program may be expanded nationally.
C40 Recharge base price: $55,300, 226 miles of range. XC40 Recharge base price: $53,500, 223 miles of range.
BMW iX and i4
BMW’s latest electric models — the iX SUV and i4 sedan — are a far departure from the i3, the automaker’s divisive, pint-size hatch that was officially retired in 2021 after a nine-year run. The athletic iX and comely i4 grand coupe come with the vertical “nostrils” found on almost every new BMW and fans of the brand will be familiar with iDrive, the company’s infotainment system. Owners of an i4 or iX receive three years of free 30-minute charging sessions at any Electrify America location, according to a BMW spokesperson. The deal sweetens for owners of the upcoming i7 sedan, who will receive unlimited charging sessions for three years.
BMW packed the iX and i4 with insane power and luxury amenities (all-wheel drive is available too). The iX can travel from 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds and the electric motors produce 516 horsepower (that number jumps to over 600 hp in the iX M60 model, hang on tight passengers!). The i4, like the traditional 4 Series Grand Coupe, offers a refined, civilized experience though the fun factor gets going with the i4 M50, which can reach 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, making it a touch faster than an M3 Competition.
Half of BMW’s sales will be electric by 2030, according to company executives. The German automaker may also start manufacturing EVs at its Spartanburg, South Carolina, facility, BMW’s largest manufacturing plant in the world, the spokesperson noted.
“It would be safe to assume that EV production will come to the U.S. at some point,” the spokesperson said.
BMW has also been at the forefront of ethical raw materials sourcing, aiming to achieve “complete transparency in the origin and mining methods of the material.”
“The company purchases lithium and cobalt directly and makes it available to battery cell manufacturers,” the spokesperson said.
iX base price: $84,100, 324 miles of range. i4 base price: $55,900, 301 miles of range.
Mercedes-Benz EQS
The first EV from the German luxury brand, the handsome EQS sedan quickly got recognized for its Hyperscreen — a curved, digital screen that stretches 56 inches from left to right A-Pillars. Mercedes packed the sleek EQS with Artificial intelligence (AI) and learn-capable software that makes personalized suggestions for a variety of functions to the driver. The large sedan’s steering angle at the rear axle is up to 10 degrees, allowing it to maneuver like a compact car. Like Tesla, Mercedes added a “Power Nap” mode, so a driver can get shut-eye as the EQS charges. According to Mercedes, the program has three phases — falling asleep, sleeping and waking up — which can increase the driver’s performance post-vehicle charge.
Voelcker said the EQS cabin was “wonderful” though the vehicle swiftly burned through range in upstate New York, where he test drove the vehicle last winter. The EQS has an EPA-estimated 340-350 miles of range, depending on the trim.
The U.S. is the No. 1 market worldwide for the EQS since its launch in late 2021, Mercedes said. The company’s next EV is the EQS SUV, which will be built at the company’s plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A spokesperson for the brand said Mercedes is actively reviewing the Inflation Reduction Act and is fully committed to an “electric future.”
